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Namaste Yogis.   Welcome to the Blockchain & AI Forum, where your blockchain and artificial intelligence technology questions are answered, mostly correct!   Here no question is too mundane.  Doris from Puerto Rico asks if data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are identical terms with different names? 

Doris, you came to the right place.  Let’s take a stroll as we talk.  Without doubt, the birth of computing has resulted in a data explosion.  Since the creation of social media, the acceleration in data volume has grown 44 times, according to IDC, Azeem Azhar.  But data, like oil, is useless until it is “processed”.  In 2006, British mathematician Clive Humby famously said, “data is the new oil”.  What did Homby mean?  Humby meant raw data, like oil, isn’t useful but when it processed/refined it is essential.  In other words, data must be processed into information to unleash its potential.  Stop and consider social media.  Social media companies sell advertisement based on customer data.  As with oil, there is a constant battle over data ownership.  The processing of data into information is a new discipline, called data science. Essentially, data science is an umbrella term that encompasses data gathering, analytics, mining, and artificial intelligence, and machine learning.  Doris it’s now time to talk artificial intelligence.

Humans are extremely clever.  We invent solutions whether the “problem” is nature made or of our own doing.  With mountains of data and an avalanche of money at stake, we have developed a new tool, artificial intelligence, (AI) to deal with data overload problems. AI is essentially, teaching machines to learn from data and derive a variety of useful insights.  AI is commonly defined as a simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think and learn like humans. The key is the A in AI; it is artificial intelligence. AI includes a wide range of methods that enable computers to perform tasks that would ordinarily require a human.  Basically, AI enables computers to mimic human intelligence using logic. For example, with AI, problem solving is possible, as is language understanding, pattern recognition, and even decision-making, or at least recommended decisions.  With limited time, we need to move onto machine learning.

Machine Learning (ML) is the capability of artificial intelligence systems to learn by extracting patterns from data.  ML provides systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from the experience without being explicitly programmed.  The key is not explicitly programmed. ML develops computer programs that teach themselves to grow and change when exposed to new data.  ML uses the data in a dataset to detect patterns and adjust actions accordingly. And ML automates analytical model building using statistical and machine learning algorithms.  With ML, machines “learn” thereby leading to artificial intelligence.

Doris, thank you for the question.  Hopefully, I explained the differences well. 

Yogi Nelson

Namaste Yogis.   Welcome to the Blockchain & AI Forum, where your blockchain and artificial intelligence technology questions are answered, mostly correct!   Here no question is too mundane.  As a bonus, a proverb is also included.  Today’s question, submitted by Henry from Los Angeles, is:  are smart contracts truly smart and are they legitimately contracts?

Henry, you came to the right place.  Blockchain technology offers numerous innovations and among the most revolutionary are “smart contracts.” Let’s take a stroll and talk about it.

Henry, the obvious place to start is by defining the terms.  Smart contracts are digital agreements that execute automatically based on real-world data inputs. Let’s break down this sentence.  First, smart contracts are digital agreements.  The digital agreement aspect makes it a “contract” between two parties.  What makes it “smart” is they are programmed to execute automatically based on real-world inputs. But hold on, there is more to the story.

We start by disclosing a basic truth.  Smart contracts are simply computer programs. The word “contract” has no legal meaning in this context.  Sorry.  In Slovenia, there is an old proverb that says, “tell the truth and leave immediately”.  I’ll stick around to the end of this article. 

Second, once deployed the smart contract code cannot change. Smart contracts are immutable.  Unlike traditional software, the only way to modify a smart contract is to deploy a new instance.  This is one reason why smart contracts are not as brilliant as advertised, at least not yet. 

Third, smart contracts are deterministic.  By deterministic I mean they either happen in full, exactly as described, or they don’t run at all.  It is binary; all or nothing.  Life is seldom all or nothing but in the world of “smart contracts” it is. Smart contracts see white or black, nothing in between.  Consequently, smart contracts are less than genius, for now.

Four, smart contracts operate within a constricted execution context. They can access their own state, the context of the transaction that called them, and some information about the most recent blocks. Consequently, “smart contracts” require a helping hand from external reliable sources known as oracles.

Take this simple theoretical smart contract example that includes an oracle:

IF condition A exist (the Lakers win) THEN perform function B (send Yogi Nelson $1)

The “smart contract” would be programmed to transmit a $1 payment to Yogi Nelson if the Lakers win.  The oracle would transmit to the “smart contract” the game results and Yogi Nelson would receive $1 if the Lakers win. 

Get this Henry, processes that currently involve manual interactions between two parties can be automated and the value moved in real time over the blockchain rather than settling days later as with traditional banking.  That means speed, Henry!  Moreover, the fees of middleman and other intermediaries can be eliminated or certainly reduced. 

I have told the truth and now do as they say in Slovenia, “tell the truth and leave immediately”. 

Until next time.

Yogi Nelson

Today’s question, an excellent by the way, was submitted by John of San Diego.  John ask:  is Bitcoin the Original Digital Money?

Namaste Yogis!   Welcome to the Blockchain & AI Forum, where your blockchain and artificial intelligence technology questions are answered, mostly correct!   Here no question is too mundane.  As needed I answer your questions concerning important government regulations of blockchain, crypto, and AI. And, if that were not enough, as a bonus, occasionally a proverb or yoga fun fact is included at the conclusion of the article.  All this for the low, low, low price of free!

John, you came to the right place.  Sorry you Bitcoin maxis, Bitcoin is not the first digital money. Bitcoin is not the “OG” of digital money as they might say in the blockchain ‘hood’. In fact, Bitcoin wasn’t even the second, third, or fourth digital money.  John, come with me and I’ll give you the rundown.

In the beginning (oh wait, that opening has been taken).  Let’s start again. First, there was DigiCash.  DigiCash was founded by David Chaum in 1989, a full 20 years before Bitcoin.  DigiCash money was known as cyberbucks.  (I like the name!) A hand full of banks tried Digicash, including Deutsche Bank (the largest German bank) but Digicash crashed.  Perhaps Chaum was too far ahead of his time.  Onto attempt number two.

E-Gold came into existence in 1996.  E-Gold was backed by real units of precious metal.  With E-Gold users could conduct instant transfers over the internet.  Everything in E-Gold was denominated in gold, like the dollar was before President Nixon delinked the dollar from the gold standard in 1971.  Why did he do that? Because the US didn’t have sufficient gold to back the dollar but thats a different story. E-Gold’s introduced micro-payments as its chief innovation.  Unfortunately, underground types were using the system and the government shut down E-Gold in 2008. Ugh.

HashCash. We can thank Adam Back for creating HashCash in 1997.  Mr. Back introduced the proof-of-work idea to HashCash.  Bitcoin is based on proof-of-work.  Back also proposed adding a fee or “postage” to emails to reduce spam.  Terrific idea. Why it didn’t catch on is for a future post.

B-Money.  In 1998 Wei Dai introduced B-Money.  The consensus protocol was proof-of-work.  Mr. Dai linked the creation of money with the computing power used to create it.  B-Money push us forward by creating the notion of broadcasting transactions on the network to resolve disputes.  On to Bit Gold.

Bit Gold.  In 2005 Mr. Nick Szabo moved us closer to Bitcoin with the creation of Bit Gold.  Mr. Szabo’s idea was to bring the scarcity of precious metals into the digital realm.  Now that’s interesting. Szabo’s thesis was as follows:  gold is difficult to mine and even more difficult to counterfeit; hence, why not take the value of gold and make it digital?  Szabo did not follow-up and Bit Gold slowly died. Nick, why did you stop?

On Halloween, 2008 an anonymous person(s) name Satoshi Nakamoto published a whitepaper titled, “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” and on that day Bitcoin was born!  No one knows Satoshi’s identify.  We don’t know if Satoshi was one person or many.  We don’t know if Satoshi is male or female.  Satoshi clearly had supreme computer programming skills. Nakamoto also had strong opinions regarding economics and finance.  Satoshi’s identify remains a mystery.  Let’s not stir the pot by guessing the identity.  As they say in Bolivia, “A quarrel is like buttermilk, the more you stir it, the sourer it grows.”

Until next time.

Yogi Nelson

Namaste Friends. Welcome to the Blockchain & AI Forum, where your blockchain and artificial intelligence technology questions are answered, mostly correct! Here no question is too basic nor simple. As a bonus, a proverb is included at the conclusion of every article. Today’s question was submitted by Wanda and she wants to know: What is a blockchain?

Wanda you came to the right place. Let’s walk one step at a time. There are hundreds of blockchains. “The blockchain” does not exist. Blockchains are categorized into one of four classes. Of the four types, public and private are most common, and the remaining two are consortium and hybrid.

Blockchain technology is computer software. Blockchains are essentially advanced databases or put another way blockchains are digital ledgers. What’s more, blockchains are databases that are shared over the internet. That’s the headline but of course there is more.

Blockchains exhibit certain characteristics. First, a blockchain must be immutable, meaning the contents of a published block cannot be changed. Changing even one letter within a record of a blockchain will trigger an entirely new unique identifier number thus causing that block to break its link to the previous block and breaking the chain.

Second, blockchains are append only. Adding a new block to the end of the chain is of course permitted. However, it is impossible to insert a new block in between two existing blocks. In other words, if the chain has 15 blocks, adding a 16th is permitted to the tail of the chain but it is not possible to slip a new block in between blocks 7 and 8, for instance.

You might ask, given the shared nature of blockchains and the fact there is no central authority in public blockchains, how do blockchains know what is correct? That is the right question, and the answer is blockchains have a method for getting the network to reach agreement known as the consensus algorithm. There are several consensus methods, the two most common are proof of work (Bitcoin) and proof of stake (most all other blockchains). Now, what are blocks?

A “block” is a list of transactions. Transactions are recorded onto a block over a pre-determined period. Block size and time permitted to fill blocks varies from blockchain to blockchain. Image a block as a book and each page as a transaction. Once the book reaches maximum capacity, or the time expires to fill the block, the “book”/block in the queue is time stamped and sealed. The block is then given a unique identifier and connected to the previous block thus forming a chain of blocks known as blockchain. YEAH! But there’s more.

Block 1 is connected to Block 2, Block 2 to Block 3, etc. Blocks are connected through a “chain”. The “chain” in blockchain is a series of hash tags produced by cryptography. Basically, hashes are fingerprints that lock blocks onto the chain in order and time. Hashing creates a one-way function that cannot be decrypted resulting in maximum security!

Wanda, I hope I answered your question. I would be disappointed if I violated the Turkish proverb of being a guide to a village that is visible in the distance.

Until next time.

Yogi Nelson

In earlier blogs I explained how Cardano could prevent fraudulent yoga teacher certificates and the advantages of using ADA coins to pay for yoga services. In this blog I’ll give you the environmental reasons for choosing an investment in Cardano over other crypto-currency alternatives. I’ll keep the explanation relatively jargon free.

The legitimacy of a transaction using blockchain technology can be verified in one of two ways. One method is called proof-of-work the other proof-of-stake (the Cardano way). The proof-of-work approached is identified with Bitcoin. Bitcoin’s proof-of-work has several disadvantages including the enormous amount of energy it takes to “mine” Bitcoin. According to a 2018 Harvard Business Review article, mining Bitcoin consumes as much energy as does the entire country of Ireland! Proof-of-work was cutting edge in 2008; but we live in 2021.

Using proof-of-stake technology, Cardano consumes only 1% of the energy compared to proof-of-work. Why is that? Well, the answer is simple–Cardano is third generation crypto-currency and blockchain technology. Just think for a moment about your mobile phone in 2008 versus your cell phone of 2021! With proof-of-stake Cardano delivers the same results without causing environmental damage.

Frankly, I entered the world of crypto-currency blockchain technology looking for investment opportunity. However, I want my “greenbacks” to earn a return in a “green” manner. My fellow yogis, I invest in Cardano because it is consistent with yoga values, e.g. no environmental damage, more inclusive society, and decentralization of power. I would not consider any other way.

There is a direct connection between yoga and Cardano. Yogis perform pranayama (breath control) as a means to control, preserve and elevate life energies. We understand the importance of creating energy, directing energy and preserving energy in ourself and earth. Investing in companies whose technologies preserves energy, protects the earth and enhances society is the ideal. Cardano’s technology is also all about using energy wisely. I discovered Cardano and hope you will consider it also.

See you on the yoga mat. Namaste and hari ohm. http://cardano.org